Magic
by turn out fine
Summary: It's a hot, dull summer day. Her laughter rings through the lazy air, while she tries to work his wand. He guides her hand gently, pointing and flicking. He's finally figured out the thing about rules. They were meant to be broken. Percy/Audrey (T for one swear word) For Annabelle :)


_For Annabell (fan-freak), who encouraged me to write my first ever freeverse with her freeverse challenge :D and 'cause you were the only one in the whole hugs & happiness challenge who shipped Percy/Audrey :)_

_Thanks to Silly (SillySilenia) for reading this over and catching all of my little mistakes :)_

_luv,_

_Nina :)_

* * *

She buries herself in the sand, burrows deep down into her shell. It's better that way. Better to cover herself in a thick layer of sarcasm and indifference. It means that she doesn't hurt. _Ever. _

It's kind of funny that he's the one to pierce through her shell. That redhead with the horn rimmed glasses and deep brown eyes. That guy who never laughs, who barely ever cracks a smile. The one who understands her better then anyone else, _somehow._

He tried to explain why it hurt so much for him to laugh. _"When I joke, people die."_ She couldn't ask him about it, so instead she pushed him into the lake. They didn't ask questions. She didn't even know his name. He was _wizard boy_, and she was _that girl_.

That girl with the home that's torn down the middle. The one who's been kicked out of four schools and counting. That girl with the heart of gold that she can't show off, because she knows it will tarnish. The one who's biting remarks sting, _for some reason_.

o.O.o.O.o

They meet at the lake. It's always been Percy's haven, his escape from reality. She dropped her brooch in. He doesn't know why it matters so much to her, or why she's sitting there crying into _his_ lake, teardrops merging into ripples, distorting her reflection. He doesn't know that it's her last remaining gift from her mother, but he tries to retrieve it anyway. He fails. He was never was one for sports, not like any of his other siblings. Her flow of tears has stopped, now that she has company. "Couldn't magic my brooch back up, huh?" She hits closer to home then she can ever imagine.

He takes the bait, needing to pull against something, test his strength. "And what happened to _your_ magic, missing in action, now, isn't it?" (He's never sarcastic, he's Percy, he speaks about rules, regulations and cauldron bottoms. What does he think he's doing?) She's flippant and laughing at the same time. Her blue eyes sparkle; with laughter, unshed tears, or a strange combination of both, he doesn't know.

"Whatever you say, wizard boy."

That's his name from then on. It reminds him of the world he can't lose, the world he betrayed, the world with a gash ripped across it, where so many used to live. Hearing it is the only time he feels alive, anymore.

o.O.o.O.o

Sometimes she worries about the future. She's never going to get into college with a record like hers. A dead mother can't support anyone, and a her father has no _interest_ in paying off her debts. Of course, she never says anything, she's still_ Audrey_. He knows instinctively somehow, and he quotes at her, something about sinners having futures and saints having pasts. Honestly, she doesn't understand, she's too busy listening to the way the words roll so smoothly off his tongue. (It's times like these that it hits her just how much she likes him.)

o.O.o.O.o

Its funny that the person who knows him best doesn't even know his name. She doesn't know that he's Percy Weasley. With the six, _no_, five, siblings. Junior Secretary to the Minister. She doesn't even know that he's a wizard. (_She always knew that he could do magic._) One day, he decides that he needs to tell her, needs to make sure that she won't run away screaming. The look she gives him is worse. Much_much_ worse. It's a look that shows too much betrayal, too much loss for such a young girl.

She doesn't believe him and he can't give her a demonstration. If there was anything that Percy had never broken, it was the rules (_fuck the statute_). He can hear the thwack of a door slamming inside his head. He wished it would slam into him. Then maybe he would be able to sink into that blackness in the middle of her eyes, and there would be _nothing_.

She gives him another chance, because the look in his eyes hurts her more then a slap to the head would. "Fine, wizard boy, conjure us up some cake." It's the first thing she can think of, and she has no idea why it seems to devastate him so much.

She wants out, back to a time when life was much simpler, and she tells him so. She's never been afraid to speak her thoughts, that one. "So magic up my life, wizard boy, make it all okay again!" The desperation in her voice scares him, and he does the only thing he can think of. He takes her cheek and tilts it up, running his tongue along those soft, pale lips. He kisses her, and it's better then Oz, more magical then Narnia. It's a charm and a transformation, a hex and a spell all at once. Neither of them can turn back now.

o.O.o.O.o

It's grey and dreary, and neither of them know why they're pulled to a lake. (Or maybe they do know, but they're waiting to see who will give in first.) She lies with her head in his lap, winding a wild flower around her finger. They're quiet.

o.O.o.O.o

It's a hot, dull summer day. Her laughter rings through the lazy air, while she tries to work his wand. He guides her hand gently, pointing and flicking. He's finally figured out the thing about rules. _They were meant to be broken._

o.O.o.O.o

It's bright and the water spays them with little icy fingers. They're too busy to notice. They kiss and she tastes bittersweet, like chocolate and pain, salt water and laughter. He's just _sad_ but they're banishing the pain, together.

Soon all the sadness is locked up into a room. He can look in sometimes, but he still cries. It doesn't matter, because _she's_ there with him. Her father drinks too much. He's dead before he reaches forty, and she wishes she could hurl him into the bottom of the lake. Better _him_ then her brooch. Percy (_her _wizard boy) dives in again. He still can't reach. That's okay, though, because she knows it's the effort that counts.

o.O.o.O.o

The ring is perfect. It's a diamond that shines and shimmers and catches the light like nothing she's ever seen before. It's only fitting that he proposes at the lake. Déjà vu. She's crying, tear tracks running down her cheeks, in front of the rippling water. He stands and watches her, red head unchanged. This time, though, they're not looking down at broken brooches, or flinching at slammed doors. Their heads are up and the future is filled with _PercyandAudrey_. Love.

o.O.o.O.o

She's all he knows of love.

He's all she knows of magic.

Together they're laughter and brooches and rings, crystal clear lake water and sarcasm, a bittersweet kind of love. They're doors slammed shut and doors cracked open because of the force with which another closed.

Together they're forever and it's _magic_.

_Fin._

* * *

_-Eggheads competition_

_-if you dare (prompt 154. someone to love)_

_A/N: Review, please, guys? this is the first time that I managed to break one thousand words :) I wrote this at one in the morning, and it may make absolutely no sense. What say you guys?_


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